Wouldn't it be grand if you could just plop your smartphone down on a speaker dock and not have to worry about attaching an adapter cable, connecting to a wireless network, or firing up Bluetooth and pairing both devices? RCA has done away with all that hassle with its new SoundFlow alarm clock that simply requires you to place your handset on top for a litte more oomph in the sound department.

But while your music is certainly louder, it takes a big hit in terms of sound quality. The SoundFlow functions a lot like the iFrogz Boost speaker in that it uses a sort of microphone to capture and amplify the music already playing on your device, but it's almost like listening to someone else's music across a phone connection. And it gets pretty awful and distorted when you really start to crank it.

What's even more problematic is that because there's also no data connection to your phone, the alarm clock can't access or play your tunes when it's time to wake up. In fact, there's really no functionality between the two devices at all, which is pretty disappointing. You're better off just waiting for RCA's simple SoundFlow speaker docks which do away with the alarm clock and introduce a much improved design. It's just too bad there's no ETA on when they'll arrive.